Splice (2009)

She's Not Human... Not Entirely.

This film updates the Frankenstein trope of man creating life to the present day, and poses the question of what would happen if instead of one man, the creators were a childless husband and wife team, incubating the monster from a foetus in an artificial womb. This is an interesting angle, allowing the film-makers to address issues relating to parenthood - especially, Polley's character being the prime mover, motherhood - and allowing for an unusually wide gamut of responses, ranging from revulsion to devotion.

A neat plot device allows for a telescoping of time, and the story develops swiftly.

The story, in toto, is clearly quite fantastic. In order to keep the audience on board, the characters of the protagonists must be credible enough to drive the plot forward in an apparently inevitable succession, as inevitable as a line of falling dominoes. This is achieved pretty well, partly by scripting in certain character attributes, partly through the great casting of beak-nosed thin-as-a-rake Adrian Brody as nerdy scientist, partly through the strong grounded but intense presence of Sarah Polley, whose character is the prime mover behind most of the key plot points.

For me, the actor Sarah Polley was in fact the main attraction. In the film Go, she was really something special, giving a brave bloody-minded completely unglamorous performance, the standout performance of the film. Her IMDB entry says she is "[b]lessed with an extremely expressive face that enables directors to minimize dialog due to her uncanny ability to suggest a character's thoughts..." Exactly: her intelligence shines through.

The monster, when it comes, is very well realised, especially later on in the film. This is a crucial point: if the monster lacks credibility, the film crashes. Fortunately, the FX are good, and the portrayal of the monster is one of the high points of the whole film.

Others have criticised the finale for being too action-oriented, and dumbing down from the intelligence of the majority of the film. Maybe, but the film's final coda is pretty smart.

• Rating: Full price
• When seen: 18 Feb 2011
• Where seen: Home
• More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia

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Amendments: Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.

Heartless (2009)

The darker it gets the more you see.

Like a British Donnie Darko - a psychological horror film where the reliability of the protagonist's POV is questionable. How much of what happens is a projection of the protagonist's imaginings and how much is objectively true?

A good true psychological horror story emerging from the protagonist's curiosity about the activities of hooded youth gangs with horrible masked (or not masked?) faces.

Interesting parallel between the reason the protagonist hides his face beneath a hood when out in public, to hide a prominent birthmark, and the reasons young hoodies choose to hide their faces.

Another theme is the question of evil: is evil consuming the world? What leads people to commit evil acts? Is intrinsic internal goodness sufficient defence against temptation?

Along the way, there are some events that stretch credibility somewhat, that we can choose to go with or not, to suspend our disbelief. But overall, the story evolves in a reasonably psychologically credible way.

This means that there's a lot of suspense, and fewer outright thrills, but that's preferable.

The performance by Sturgess is excellent, presenting a shy, inherently good and pure young man.

• Rating: High matinee
• When seen: 13 Feb 2011
• Where seen: Home
• More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia

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Amendments: Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.

Zombieland (2010)

Survival rule#4: Don't be a hero.

Delightful start! Very good script, smart funny, scary at times. Cool use of over image titles, and voice over, surprisingly. Performances by the two male leads in particular are excellent.

There is also a substantial sub-text that works very well, about alienation, loneliness, suspicion of others, but desire for love and friends and family and belonging.

• Rating: Full price
• When seen: 21 Dec 2010
• Where seen: Home
• More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia

Amendments: Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.

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The Evil Dead (1981)

Can They Be Stopped?

Very effective horror. Lots of gore, but that is the least of it. It's the masterful use of suspense that is so gruelling. This comes from the script / direction / camerawork, giving us just the right POV at any time. I was on the edge of my seat, or had my face in a fixed grimace of apprehension for most of the running time.

The budget must have been tiny ($350,000 according to IMDB), but the film-makers maximize what they've got. Very minimal setting: essentially just a house and its immediate surroundings for almost all the film.

Was keen to see this film because of Sam Raimi's great work in Spider-Man, particularly Spider-Man 2, and his frequent use of Bruce Campbell, who surely merits a much higher profile than he has had. Campbell is terrific in the central role. Went to see Raimi's recent "Drag Me To Hell" for the same reason.

Haliwell's Film Guide is missing the point: "Semi-professional horror rubbish, blown up from 16mm and looking it." Quality of image does not a good film make. Other aspects (script, direction/editing, performance) are far more important. Witness my appreciation of this even watched streamed from LoveFilm, in poor visual quality, but really gripping even so.

• Rating: Full price
• When seen: 9 Oct 2010
• Where seen: Home (LoveFilm Online)
• More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia

Amendments: Added actor tags: "Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Hal Delrich, Sarah York". Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.